That giant heart and helpful attitude was taken to a whole new level on Jan. 4 when Ethan saved a neighbor’s life.

Temperatures were below zero, and snow drifts were piling high in Jerry Wixom’s driveway. The 72-year-old widower, who lives alone, went outside and started his snowblower.

“Within minutes, I suddenly lost feeling in my feet, and I was beginning to have a hard time standing,” Wixom told EastIdahoNews.com. “It dawned on me that I was having a problem, maybe even a stroke, so I held onto my snow thrower and backed up very carefully to the garage.”

Wixom pinned himself against the garage but realized that if he opened the door, he would fall and nobody would see him.

“The snow pile in front of my house and the drifts were so high that you couldn’t see into the garage from the street or sidewalk,” Wixom said.

Large snow piles in front of Wixom’s house would have made it difficult for anyone to see him in his driveway or garage. | Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com.

He was stuck, couldn’t reach his cellphone and was rapidly losing feeling in his body.

Nobody was outside — except Ethan.

“He was next door shoveling the neighbors’ driveway,” Wixom says. “I yelled to him that I needed help, and he came running. It truly was an act of God that he was there.”

Ethan ran over to Wixom, who told the young man to go get his mother.

“All of a sudden he came in the front door and I have never heard Ethan in such a panic,” Mangum remembered. “He kept saying, ‘Mom, Mom, Mom! Jerry, Jerry, Jerry – Jerry needs help!'”

Mangum, along with Ethan and his 22-year-old brother, Chase Johnson, who also has special needs, ran over to Wixom and called 911. As they waited for paramedics, the three tried to help get him inside.